The benefits to health derived from the continual periodic cleansing of teeth by an individual has been clearly demonstrated over the years. In order to obtain these benefits, the selection of an appropriate type of personal health care device to provide the desired cleansing and polishing effects has been found most important.
The combined utilization of bacteria disturbing vehicles for use at and below the gum line, such as dental tape and floss, along with a thorough cleansing and polishing of the exposed surfaces of the teeth are now generally accepted by the professionals in the dental field as providing the best practical care. While the conventional toothbrush is the most common personal device employed, the dental professional utilizes a flexible rotating cleansing-polishing appliance which contains the cleansing agent therein. Numerous attempts have been made to provide a similar hand-held device for individual usage at locations remote from the specialized equipment and drive mechanisms which are common to the professional office.
Size and shape of the device are primary considerations since the operative end must be capable of manipulation throughout the mouth in order to contact the exposed surfaces of the teeth. In addition, dental care devices require that the portion containing the particular appliance for the task at hand be angled with respect to the axis of the main body of the device in order to insure that the appliance effectively contacts the multiple faces of the teeth.
At present, the need for slim line, hand-held personal health care devices has generated a family of products capable of providing a cleansing and polishing effect and which is intentionally made small for insertion into the oral cavity and angled from the body of the device to facilitate hand manipulation by the individual unskilled user. One such device is disclosed in my prior U.S Pat. No. 3,921,298 wherein continuous rotational motion via flexible drive means of an appliance provides polishing and cleansing functions.
One common problem in the design of these small devices with tapered angled operative ends is the accommodation of a motion translating mechanism in the small cross sectional area available. The hand-held device typically utilizes an electric motor connected to either an internal or external power supply with a rotating shaft extending axially within the housing. In applications wherein continuous rotational movement of the appliance is the desired end, it is known to provide a flexible belt and pulley drive mechanism within the narrow confines of the angular operating end. In the operation of this type of device for home usage, the operating conditions are not controlled by professionally-trained staff and the varying pressures applied by the user often lead to undue heat generation at the tooth surface, internal belt slippage and a frequent need to replace the belting. While the flexible belt drive is found satisfactory under many conditions it provides continual rotational movement of the appliance. While this type of movement is acceptable under controlled conditions, an individual operator failing to turn the device off while it remains within the oral cavity causes residual matter on the appliance to fly about the area.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a personal health care device for use by individuals wherein the small cross-sectional area of the operating end includes an oscillatory drive mechanism. In addition, the appliance is located proximate to the small end region of an angled operating end to facilitate manipulation by the user. Further, the oscillating drive mechanism provides a positive direct linking between the internal drive and driven means to substantially eliminate internal slippage and reduce the need for the replacement of parts therein.